


every time i look there's so much more to see

by trilliastra



Series: Tumblr Fics [34]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-24 21:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3785716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trilliastra/pseuds/trilliastra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“S-man to base, S-man to base. The target hasn’t moved yet. I repeat, the target hasn’t moved yet.”</p><p>“Stiles, I’m standing right in front you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	every time i look there's so much more to see

“S-man to base, S-man to base. The target hasn’t moved yet. I repeat, the target hasn’t moved yet.”

“Stiles, I’m standing right in front you.” Derek says, annoyed. Stiles grins, completely unabashed by Derek’s glare, it’s so fun to mess with him, Stiles just  _loves_  it.

“S-man, Derek.” He corrects, still smiling. “Remember, no names.”

Derek sighs, runs a hand through his fluffy hair. Stiles can help but stare, wondering – not for the first time – if that’s how Derek’s hair looks like right after he’s had sex, all soft and sleepy and cute.

Cute is not a word Stiles would have associated with Derek some time ago, but life is surprising. Werewolves exist, tiny gnomes can poison you almost to death, Derek looks cute when playing with puppies – that’s just how things are.

“I should have let Scott come with you like Allison suggested.”

Stiles scoffs. “Please, I wouldn’t be able to pretend to be in love with Scott even with a gun pointed to my head.” He blurts out, only realizing his words when Derek arches an eyebrow. “I didn’t – not that with you is easier, just – Scott is my –”

Derek snorts. “Yeah, I got it.” He waves Stiles off, still smirking, and that’s when the couple they’ve been following all day  _finally_ move. “Come on.” Derek offers his hand and Stiles obediently takes it. They leave the restaurant together, Stiles trying not to think about the feeling of Derek’s hand in his, and Derek casually sniffing the air like a damn dog. “Still that damn cinnamon smell.” He says. “It’s like it’s following them.”

“Or us.” Stiles points out, looking around. “I don’t think it’s them. It’s obvious they are trying to fit in, and all the stories Lydia manage to dug up didn’t say anything about a weird couple hanging around. I mean, ten couples? Twenty people? Someone  _would_  have noticed something.”

Derek nods, but his face falls. “So we’ve got nothing. Again.”

Stiles squeezes his hand softly. “Hey, we can do it.” Derek turns to look at him, eyes scanning Stiles’ face like looking for something and then he nods again.

“Let’s head back to the main room.” Derek says after a second. “I read something about free ice-cream.”

Stiles beams up at him, shivers when Derek smiles back. “Oh man, I love you.”

Someone clears their throat behind them, and nine years ago that would have made Stiles almost jump out of his skin, but he hangs out with werewolves and is friends with a werefox that loves to prank him. Stiles is  _way_  past jump scares at this point.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Mrs. Dawson – the coordinator of the event – says, yet she doesn’t look sorry at all. “We are moving to the next activity now.” She starts to push them towards the door, still smiling brightly. “I recommend all couples participate of this one, seeing it’s extremely important to improve the communication in any relationship.”

“Right.” Stiles coughs. “We were just going to the –”

“Please.” Mrs. Dawson interrupts, opening the door for them. “If I hadn’t interrupted, you were going to spend the entire day in bed.” Stiles gasps, feels himself start to flush red. At least - he glances at Derek who looks extremely uncomfortable, the tip of his ears turning pink - he’s not the only one. “Oh, darlings.” She repeats in that maternal way, which only makes things weirder. “Sex is an important part of any romantic relationship, but you’ll have time for that later.”

Stiles takes a deep breath, if only she was right.

–

“The point of this activity –” Mrs. Dawson recites as she walks around them, always smiling. All that cheeriness is beginning to piss Stiles off, “is to get the couple to talk. I gave you ten cards, and each card contains a question you will ask your significant other and then answer it yourself. Do not be afraid to yell, cry or show any other emotion. It’s what we’re here for.”

When Stiles holds out his hands, like Mrs. Dawson instructed, Derek takes them in his, gives Stiles a reassuring smile. He’s still keeping an ear out for anything weird – or in this case, too normal – and Stiles thinks this is actually a good idea, having all the couples in one room might make their mission easier.

And seriously, the sooner they finish this the better. Stiles doesn’t know how long he will be able to handle sharing a bed with Derek, waking up cuddling him and having to pretend he didn’t mean to, kissing Derek, hugging him,  _ugh_  – it’s just too much.

“Okay, start!” Mrs. Dawson announces.

“So,” Stiles whispers, “anything?”

Derek shakes his head. “They all look the same to me.” Stiles huffs. Come on, creeps, help them out.

“What are –” Derek widens his eyes in warning when Mrs. Dawson gets closer and Stiles immediately looks down at one of the cards, “are you afraid of showing your emotions to me?”

Derek stops to think for a moment, probably hoping that will lead Mrs. Dawson away but she only stares, arms crossed over her chest. “I guess,” he finally says, “it’s hard to tell you some things, even more when you are constantly making jokes about them.”

That hits Stiles hard. Although Derek is probably inventing some shit to please Mrs. Dawson, it still sounds a lot like the truth. Especially because he’s had more than one girlfriend yell at him for being insensitive and not taking things seriously.

“I had no idea. I –” Derek blinks, confused. “it’s a thing I started to do after my mom died. I didn’t want to show my dad what I was feeling and started coming up with stupid jokes.” He sighs. “Sorry.”

“Stiles,” Derek whispers, alarmed, “you know I didn’t mean it, right?”

“I feel like you did.” Stiles confesses, and Derek immediately reaches out to squeeze his hand. “It’s okay, though. I deserved it.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Derek warns. “I like when you make jokes, I like coming up with ways to answer them. It makes me feel – alive.”

“Oh.” Something shifts inside Stiles, and all those thoughts about Derek suddenly make sense. He _loves_  Derek, he loves him a lot.

How the hell did that happen?

“Yeah.” Derek smiles. “Next question?”

Stiles nods. “Okay.”

–

They spend the next two hours asking and answering the questions Mrs. Dawson gave, and when she finally dismisses them, Stiles is the one who moves to take Derek’s hand. If Derek notices something different about him, he doesn’t mention it, and for once Stiles relaxes. Yeah, it might hurt later, but he will survive, Derek will still be in his life and that’s all that matters.

At least he had this week.

They are in the restaurant again, having lunch, when Stiles’ phone goes off, announcing a new message. “Oh my God.” He gasps, practically shoving his phone on Derek’s face. “Look at this cuteness. Look at her!” It’s a cute picture of Amelia - Scott’s daughter - dressed as Hawkeye for a party at her school. Stiles helped her pick the costume, and Derek made a mini-version of a bow and an arrow especially for her.

Derek laughs, shakes his head fondly. “She looks perfect.”

“ _Duh_.” Stiles rolls his eyes, smiling. “She  _is_  perfect.”

“ _Aw._ ” Mrs. Dawson coos, sitting on the chair next to Derek’s. “Who’s the cutie?”

Stiles and Derek share scared looks. “Our daughter!” Stiles blurts out. If he wasn’t so scared, he might have laughed at the way Derek’s eyebrows practically went up to his hairline. “She’s with my step-brother while we are, you know – here.”

Mrs. Dawson laughs, delighted, and even to Stiles’ ears it sounds  _too_  happy. “You know, I’ve been doing this for a long time, but you are the cutest couple I’ve ever encountered.”

“Thanks?” Stiles swallows, arches an eyebrow when he sees Derek narrowing his eyes at the woman.

“Here.” She pushes a plate of cinnamon rolls towards them. “I bet it brings great memories.”

The smell of cinnamon hits Stiles like a freight train, making him gasp. “How did – how did you know –”

“Because it’s  _her_.” Derek growls, eyes flashing blue. Mrs. Dawson – or whoever the fuck she really is – just keeps smiling. “You’ve been playing with us this entire time. Playing with my senses.”

She raises her hands. “Guilty. Although, I wouldn’t say  _playing_. More like helping.”

“Helping?” Stiles groans. “You call  _this_  helping?”

“Like I said before, I’ve been doing this for a long time.” She explains, her eyes radiating a sadness that wasn’t there before. “I can recognize the signs.” She points at the plate. “The first time you two had breakfast together, Stiles ordered cinnamon rolls and you shared it. It was the moment you started falling for each other.”

Stiles’ heart gives a somersault, and he gapes at Mrs. Dawson – the woman, whatever that means – wondering how could she possibly know. When he’s about to ask her exactly that, Derek growls again, and Stiles is sure if it weren’t for all the people surrounding them, he would have pounced on her already. “What do you want?”

“To make people happy.” She says simply.

“That easy?” Nothing in Stiles’ life after Scott got bitten was ever easy, this has to be a trap.

“That easy.” She confirms. “Love is – a good thing. It gives people hope. No one should live without love.”

“But love spells? That’s not love, it’s a trick.”

For the first time, Mrs. Dawson looks angry. “Love spells don’t exist. You can’t create love from nothing. And even if you could – that’s not what I’m doing.” She gestures around them. “I built this place to help people remember what – and possibly  _who_  – they love. Your bedroom for example, haven’t you wondered why you can see the sunrise even if the window is turned to the North?”

Derek eyes Stiles, and after a moment they both shake their heads.

“Well, the reasonable answer would be – you can’t. But Derek loves the sun light.” She pats his face, preens when Derek doesn’t flinch away. “Some couples have separated beds, others separated bedrooms, and some people aren’t couples at all. Doing what I do doesn’t make me bad, just  _different._ ” She winks, stands up. “I guess you have a lot to discuss now. Bye, my darlings. I hope you will be here later, there’s this beautiful lake outside I think you’ll love.” She turns around with a last wave and heads towards another table.

Stiles sighs, still utterly confused. “That was unexpected.” Derek nods slowly, lost in his own thoughts. “I think we should go home now. It’s clear she isn’t some Wicked Witch of the West.”

“Yeah.” Derek says slowly, looking at Stiles with nothing but determination in his eyes. “Or we could stay, visit that lake and later I can ride you like I’ve been wanting to since the first morning I woke up with you snuggling me from behind.”

Stiles swallows nervously, his heart beating faster than ever before. “Okay – but only if you promise that won’t be a one-time deal only.”

Derek takes Stiles’ hand, but instead of just holding it like they have been doing since day one, he kisses it softly. “I was thinking about doing it for a long time. Years, maybe. Forever, if you’ll let me.”

Forever. Stiles likes the sound of that.

He scrapes his chair back, walking around the table and yanking Derek up, finally kissing him and knowing it’s not just pretend, it’s real and right and so  _so_  good.

–

Later when they are sunbathing by the lake, Mrs. Dawson walks past them, winks and says  _‘you’re welcome’_.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I started writing fake relationship fics and we all know there's no going back now.
> 
> You can also find me on [tumblr](http://www.brookesbutler.tumblr.com)


End file.
